This invention relates generally to automotive vehicles and specifically to a powered venting panel assembly employed in an automotive vehicle.
Many conventional automotive vehicles employ manually actuated venting sunroofs or pop-tops. These conventional venting sunroofs typically consist of a glass roof panel pivotable from a closed position, flush with the vehicle roof, to an open venting position by the vehicle occupant releasing and pivoting a latch. Air within the passenger compartment can be freely vented to the atmosphere outside of the vehicle through the sunroof opening when the window is in the venting position. This dramatically improves the HVAC (heating, venting and air conditioning) air flow patterns throughout the passenger compartment, especially when it is desired to keep the side windows in the raised position. It is also known to provide a pivoting side window with a manually actuated latch.
Examples of various manually actuated venting sunroofs are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,536 entitled "Sunroof Latching Mechanism" which issued to Green et al. on Sep. 6, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,204 entitled "Pivotal Roof Vent Panel Apparatus" which issued to George et al. on Feb. 1, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,609 entitled "Vehicle Sunroof Frame" which issued to Sorensen on Nov. 4, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,628 entitled "Bayonet Structure for Detachable Sunroof" which issued to Sorensen on Mar. 18, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,753 entitled "Automobile Roof Vent" which issued to Blomgren et al. on Aug. 17, 1976; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,624 entitled "Lifting Linkage for Roof Vent Panels of Automobile" which issued to Biernert on Apr. 13, 1976.
It is also known to mount an electric motor directly to a venting sunroof frame. In this construction, a short (less than about 50 millimeters), rigid and nonflexible armature extending from the electric motor rotates one or more gears for directly driving a toggle linkage mechanism in order to raise and lower a venting sunroof window. However, the electric motor is undesirably large and difficult to package in the vehicle's roof area. Thus, head room is detrimentally reduced. Furthermore, such a conventional arrangement creates an undesirable noise immediately adjacent to the occupant's ears. This motor is placed in an otherwise optimal location for an overhead dome lamp or headliner mounted overhead console.
Other traditional, horizontally sliding sunroofs have also been used. These devices employ one or more electric motors which push and pull cables for moving a sunroof window, sunshades or other adjacent members to forward, rearward or venting positions. Examples of these traditional pushed and pulled cable systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,482 entitled "Outer Sliding-Type Sunroof" which issued to Hayashi et al. on Oct. 13, 1992, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,783 entitled "Slidable, Foldable, and Removable Vehicle Sunroof" which issued to Chamings et al. on May 28, 1991.
Finally, it is also known to linearly slide a rear truck window along a single plane, from an open position to a closed position, by use of a rack provided on the truck window and pinion gear rotatably driven by a rectangular cross sectional cable spline and a remotely mounted electric motor. Such an apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,698 entitled "Powered Sliding Truck Cab Window" which issued to Friese et al. on May 1, 1990.
In accordance with the present invention, the preferred embodiment of a powered venting panel assembly includes a panel pivotable from a closed position to an open venting position, an automatic actuator, a linkage mechanism and an elongated member coupling the automatic actuator to the linkage mechanism. In another aspect of the present invention, the linkage mechanism is defined as a multi-link toggle mechanism which pivots a section of a window about a fixed window pivot axis. In a further aspect of the present invention, the elongated member is a flexible cable. The window is a venting sunroof window in yet another aspect of the present invention. Still another aspect of the present invention provides for remote positioning of a two-step reduction, electric motor within a passenger compartment of the automotive vehicle.
The powered venting panel assembly of the present invention is advantageous over conventional devices in that headroom intrusion and operational noise is minimized by remote placement of the electric motor away from the vehicle's roof area. Accordingly, flexibility of the cable promotes the easy routing and insertion of the cable within the hollow paths or box sections of the roof header and pillar formations to accommodate remote packaging of the electric motor at or below a beltline of the vehicle. The passenger compartment packaging of the electric motor protects same from rain and freezing water damage. The specific construction of the cable, including its generally cylindrical cross sectional nature, is important in reducing wear of adjacent sheaths and housings during prolonged use while also providing integral gear-like teeth for enmeshing with mating gears in an alternate embodiment. The present invention also allows for a reduction in gear components by directly coupling the rotating cable to a toggling link in a preferred embodiment. The specific electric motor and planetary gear transmission offers high torque and low output speed. In this advantageous arrangement, the electric motor operates at high revolutions per minute, low voltage and has a fairly small size thereby decreasing cost, packaging size and battery drain as compared to conventional motors and drive trains. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.